US$1m Easter surprise
HGS employees get big bonus after stellar year
Published:Sunday | April 4, 2021 | 12:08 AMMark Titus - Gleaner Writer
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International outsourcing firm Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) has doled out US$1 million to reward its Jamaica employees, after the local operation surpassed all the targets for the financial year 2020-2021. The India-headquartered company began...
International outsourcing firm Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) has doled out US$1 million to reward its Jamaica employees, after the local operation surpassed all the targets for the financial year 2020-2021.
The India-headquartered company began its operations in Jamaica with 80 customer care associates in 2013 and now boasts a 3,400-strong labour pool, with some 2,000 employees working from home.
“As a business unit we did extremely well,” said Anand Biradar, HGS senior vice-president and country head. “The business grew by 25 per cent during the pandemic, so as an appreciation for what the team has done in the last 12 months, we decided that we would take US$1 million out of the profit and give back to everyone who played a critical role.
“Not many companies would make such a call, but we did,” Biradar told The Gleaner. “People went crazy about it and I feel satisfied because it is the people why we are successful and we have recognised that, not only in words, but in action.”
Biradar said that the financial year which ended last Wednesday, March 31, was the best year in the history of the company, “and that was down to our workers”.
He continued: “By all scales, we exceeded the expectation, and it is our employees that made it possible. The Jamaica team did a fantastic job and I am proud of them.”
Top performers really happy
The country head would not provide a breakdown of how the stimulus was shared, but said that long-serving employees and top performers were specially recognised.
“Three thousand people got money. Those with longer service or top performers should be really happy,” he said. So if you have spent five, six years in this company and you are doing really well, you would have been acknowledged accordingly.”
While admitting that Jamaica got a more substantial payout than the other locations, the country head said it had nothing to do with a ranking.
“Jamaica outperformed its own benchmarks. They upped the benchmark on every single metric; they beat the expectation, beat the budget,” said Biradar, an executive of the Global Services Association of Jamaica.
The senior vice-president is also confident that the sector can be even more rewarding for Jamaica if serious investment is made in the broadband infrastructure.
“If Jamaica can improve the speed and the spread of its Internet, then you could see Jamaica doubling its numbers from the 44,000 we currently have in the sector over the next five years, but that is if we work on the Internet speed, the stability and the reach,” he said. “But the slower it takes will be the slower the growth.”
HGS offers a full suite of business process management services, right from traditional voice contact centre services to transformational DigiCX services that are unifying customer engagement to platform-based back-office services and digital.
The company boasts a total of 44,800 employees across 75 customer service centres in seven countries, impacting over 900 of the world’s top brands across nine key verticals in the process.